Some computer systems wherein large amounts of data are processed are provided with a data warehouse system for housing data. The data warehouse allows the data to be processed and manipulated in various ways. Typically, users can retrieve data from the data warehouse system, for example by formulating queries to be performed on the warehouse data. The data can be displayed to the user in formatted shape, for example in a graphical user interface (GUI). The querying feature allows the user to identify, and access, data in the data warehouse that the user is interested in.
More sophisticated solutions may have predefined queries that can be automatically performed. One example is the Reporting Agent feature that is available in data warehousing products from SAP AG in Walldorf (Baden), Germany. The Reporting Agent can run queries to pre-calculate web templates or other reporting objects in the SAP system. The precalculated reporting objects can then be distributed to one or more addressees. Such systems are intended to eliminate the need for the user to search for relevant information by regularly querying the data warehouse and distributing the results.